Tips & Tricks

Web Support

The first step of the migration of our websites into the new university WordPress template is complete. The next step is to enhance the web presence of our units to meet the needs of our audience. Our office will continue helping you to enhance your web presence in a variety of ways. We offer consulting, individual and walk-in training, monthly meetings, and a wealth of experience to ensure all of the necessary tools are available.

One of the most important aspects of maintaining a successful web presence is the editing process. Please download and review the Web Editors Tips & Tricks file for additional information. Statistically, the reputation of a site may be lost in only three rounds of poor editing. It is extremely important for the editor in each department to complete requested changes, as well as reviewing each site regularly for errors and enhancement opportunities. Editing for errors is the first step to success! The most commons errors are the following:

Paragraph Formatting

All headings are bold without any additional formatting tags such as heading tags (h1-h5).

Bold words for emphasis, do not capitalize.

Headings and paragraphs are separated by one return.

Paragraphs are separated by two returns.

Georgia State University is a downcase university where only proper nouns and names are capitalized.

Phone Number Formatting

All phone numbers are separated using hyphens in order to create working hyperlinks on smart phones (404-413-1510).

Time Formatting

Use lowercase a.m. and p.m. with a space between the number and the letters.

Noon is accepted. Capitalize if it is the first time listed, but use lowercase if it is the second. There is no such time as 12 noon.

The university does not use zeros to represent whole hours (6 p.m. instead of 6:00 p.m.).

To represent a span of time from a.m. to a.m. or p.m. to p.m. only the second a.m. or p.m. are listed (6 – 8 p.m., not 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.).

To represent a span of time from a.m. to p.m., both a.m. and p.m. must be listed (10 a.m. – 6 p.m.).

Date Formatting

Spell out the name of the month when using it alone or with paired with just the year.

When using a month and a year, do not separate with commas.

When a phrase is used with a month, date, and year, set both the date and year off with commas.

Do not use suffixes with dates(Correct: May 12, 2014; Incorrect: May 12th, 2014).

When referencing a span of years, use a hyphen and omit the first two digits of the second year.

Do not use the word on before a date or day of the week when its absence would not lead to confusion.

Hyperlinks

Links to external websites outside of Georgia State University must open in a new window.

PDF and Word documents must open in a new window, (PDF and Word files must also meet the university branding guidelines).

When linking web addresses, do no write the web address out on the site. The web address should only be used in the code, and the link should be the written out name of the site.

Do not use the phrase: click here. Re-write your sentence to work the link logically into the text.

Broken links happen all the time. Be sure to spend some time on your site to make sure all the links work.

Miscellaneous

Be careful using hyphenated words. Check to make sure they should or should not be hyphenated, and if there is a choice, do not hyphenate.

Limit the use of italics for titles that require italics. Statistically, it is difficult to read on a computer screen, so minimize the use as much as possible.

Make sure to spell out your department name as least once in each page prior to referring to it by its acronym.

Spell out words such as months, days, street names, etcetera in their entirety since there are no space issues on web pages.

Do not use …unless you are using it in a quote where there are several words missing.

Do not use / in place of the word and, spell it out.

University Formatting

Always spell out Georgia State University, do not use GSU.

When mentioning just the word university, use lowercase.

It is the responsibility of each department to edit their website copy and to adhere to the basic formatting structure above when editing their sites. We recommend checking your site at least once every two weeks. We will be more than happy to set up individual training sessions or meetings with you and your staff if you need any additional help or if you are uncertain about any of the guidelines. Contact Gretchen Cannon with any questions.